The abrupt fall of the long-lasting dictatorship of Nicolae Ceauşescu in Romania seems to be a trendy topic in the realm of national cinema lately. Tudor Giurgiu dealt with it in his docudrama Freedom [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Tudor Giurgiu e Cecilia St…
scheda film] (2023) and Bogdan Mureşanu did so in his hyperlinked mosaic The New Year That Never Came [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Bogdan Mureşanu
scheda film] (2024), while Vlad Petri also touched upon it in his documentary Between Revolutions [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Vlad Petri
scheda film] (2023).

Producer-turned-filmmaker Andra MacMasters chose a different angle for her documentary and directorial debut, Bright Future, which could, for the most part, serve as a “prequel” of sorts to the aforementioned events. After its premiere at last year’s IDFA and a screening at this year’s edition of CPH:DOX, it is now playing in Beldocs’ The Battle for Reality section.

MacMasters opens the film with archival footage of Lenin’s monument being transported and placed on its pedestal in Bucharest, showcasing the conviction of Romanian communists and their dedication to the cause. She will come back home for the poignant ending, but in the meantime, the filmmaker takes us on a trip to Pyongyang, where the 13th edition of the World Youth and Student Festival took place. The large Romanian delegation had an especially honourable status there, owing to the “extraordinary friendship” between Ceauşescu and North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. It was the summer of 1989, and the collapse of the regime was just six months away.

The festival itself was organised by the World Federation of Democratic Youth and the International Union of Students. For the latter, it was the last edition of the gathering: it would also be declared illegal later that year owing to its ties with communist regimes. The festival itself was not ideologically strict, as it brought together 20,000 people from left-leaning youth and student organisations from 177 countries, but the fact that it took place in the immediate aftermath of Tiananmen Square exposed the divisions between the delegations from the West and those from the communist countries. However, some topics they did have in common, and those topics are still present in the global left-wing discourse: the colonial past and neo-colonial present; the fight for human, women’s and gay rights; the fight against capitalism, imperialism and climate change; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and support for the oppressed.

The footage filmed by amateur filmmaker and educator Emilian Urse shows us the atmosphere of the festival: the theatrical ceremonies, the heated debates and the parties where we can witness oddities such as the whole hall singing and dancing to the Korean-language cover of the Modern Talking song “Brother Louie”. Through it, we can see the youthful, idealistic zeal and the high hopes for a “bright future”, as well as the political games that were being played on that level as well. Although we know that the end of the Cold War was near, the subjects remain completely unaware of it, despite some warning signs.

But in spite of the film containing some clandestinely obtained footage (the abundant use of fish-eye lenses is a dead giveaway), it is quite “creative” as a documentary. Most of its narrative material comes from printed sources, which vary from communist countries’ official press publications to Western press and archives, and it is read out by voice actors in a variety of languages off screen. It is deftly welded together by editor Andrei Gorgan, but it still remains very much Andra MacMasters’ work both in terms of the research and the overall finished product. On the surface, Bright Future might be about the past, but it challenges its viewers to reflect on their present and future.

Bright Future is a Romanian-South Korean co-production staged by Manifest Film in co-production with Conset Film and Keumyoil Film.